Carlos “El Famoso” Hernandez 41-6-1 (24) came into Saturday night’s fight versus Bobby Pacquiao 26-11-3 (11), as one of the heaviest favorites on the card. The former world Champion was looking to once again make a name for himself in the boxing world, wanting to put himself in position to battle for a piece of what is arguably the most competitive weight division in boxing. With almost half of today’s pound for pound best fighters listed as super featherweights, the division has more champions than seems possible.
To get himself back in the mix, Carlos Hernandez needed an impressive win over someone often referred to as a journeyman, Bobby Pacquiao. Although very few ringside observers would tell you Hernandez was impressive, most made it clear that they at least thought he won. In a somewhat controversial split decision, Hernandez failed to show two out of three judges enough impressiveness to even win the fight.
Hernandez believes he won the fight outright, “I won the fight, the people know it.”
Lack of effective aggressiveness is very likely what left Hernandez without a victory. Hernandez started out slowly. It seemed that he was feeling out Pacquiao, timing his heavily thrown punches. Unlike Pacquiao, Hernandez was very limited in throwing his jab throughout the first round. Pacquiao had control of the fight moving around the ring and throwing jab after jab and behind it a straight left all of which found a home somewhere on Hernandez. A booming right uppercut landed clean sending momentum down Pacquiao’s side, as he continued to move and throw, very actively and effectively landing his punches, to win the first round.
Hernandez was quick to answer the bell for the second round, not waiting for Pacquiao as much, it seemed as if he wanted to take the fight to Pacquiao, but he was met by more jab-straight left action that stopped him from doing so. Hernandez countered Pacquiao’s flurries with body punches in numbers until the last seconds of round two, when Pacquiao landed an unstoppable left hook to the head; a clean shot that sent Hernandez stumbling back onto the ground. Hernandez was able to get up in time to beat the 10 second count, and end the 2nd round.
A frail and wobbly Hernandez came out for the third and was met by non stop action from Pacquiao, who was looking to end the fight. As the round wore on Pacquiao started to show signs of wearing out from throwing so many punches. Pacquiao had covered Hernandez in a blanket of punches up to this point in the fight, and was losing his accuracy as the fight continued. Hernandez seemed surprised by the fight he had in front of him, as if he never expected it to play out like it was.
With his face starting to swell and his nose clearly bleeding, Hernandez managed to storm back into the fight landing multiple right hands to finish a hard to score third round.
Pacquiao ate 9 or 10 good overhand rights over the next two rounds, some that left people wondering how he stayed on his feet. Strong enough to stay up and take the punishment, Pacquiao was clearly out of gas for the majority of the next three rounds. As if to completely do the opposite of what he accomplished in the first three rounds, Pacquiao was throwing fewer punches that carried much less power than they did in previous rounds, all allowing Hernandez to gain precious points. Pacquiao seemed to have lost the energy to move around the ring as he was successfully doing earlier in the fight.
Midway through the fight Hernandez was almost even on my scorecards after battling back from the beating he took in the beginning of the fight. Hernandez continued to land overhand rights sparingly as he complained of Pacquiao leading with his head, something Pacquiao was warned about. Pacquiao landed a huge straight left that could have evened up the round as it came to a close.
At late point in the fight many ringside observers believed Pacquiao had failed to win a round since the third. With Pacquiao out of gas, Hernandez abandonned his plan to end the fight, and his sense of urgency was thrown out as he seemingly was content with mimicking the inactive pace of Pacquiao. Hernandez threw more punches through the end of the fight, but very few of them had any power.
Pacquiao battled through most of the last two rounds, with a newfound burst of energy and determination looking to score another much needed knockdown. Pacquiao landed a whaling right hand the biggest punch of the tail end of the fight. Hernandez countered every time Pacquiao threw a punch as both fighters seemed to swing only when provoked by the other. Both fighters seemed frustrated as the fight drew to a close. Hernandez, tired of Pacquiao’s clinching, continued to push Pacquiao on the back of the head, until at one point in the 10th round he pushed Pacquiao halfway through the ropes. With only seconds left in the fight, Hernandez finished the fight by throwing punches, as Pacquiao clinched him hoping that his domination in the early rounds, and late surge were enough to win the battle.
The final bell rung, sending Pacquiao with his head down, seemingly to be consoled in his corner, as Hernandez was raised victoriously by his team as they waited for the decision. Hernandez celebration was short lived as it was announced the judges had reached a split decision. Scores were read 97-92 for Hernandez, 95-94 and 95-93 for Pacquiao. The decision sent the mostly Hispanic crowd into frenzy, unwilling to accept the judges’ decision. Most ringside observers had Hernandez winning the fight by a small or fair margin, myself included.
